The Spirited School Counselor

Category Archives: Data


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#ASCA16 Roundup

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Disclosure of material connection: Some of the links in the post below are “affiliated links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item I will receive a small commission. With that said, I only recommend items that I have found useful as a school counselor and educator. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

 

I was #NotAtASCA16 this year but I tried to gather as much info as I could from my fellow school counselors who were attending ASCA in NOLA this year.

Here are some of the great resources I discovered through TagBoard…

**Collective Notes on Google Docs**

Books:

For Professional Development –

 

To Use with Students –

 

Websites, New Technology & Online Resources:

 

Curriulum Information Websites:

 

So much great information! Thanks to everyone who shared information with the #ASCA16 hashtag so I could learn through your experiences.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

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Advocate for School Counselors

Disclosure of material connection: Some of the links in the post below are “affiliated links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item I will receive a small commission. With that said, I only recommend items that I have found useful as a school counselor and educator. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Blog Pic Advocate

Have you seen this excellent graphic put out by NYU?

It was too good not to share…

Brought to you by Counseling@NYU: NYU’s new online master’s in school counseling

Looking for ways to advocate for yourself and your school counseling program?

Check out the following resources:

I’m currently reading Trish Hatch’s The Use of Data in School Counseling: Hatching Results for Students, Programs, and the Profession. I’m not too far into the book yet but she talks about how she has worked hard over the years to advocate for the school counseling profession and how data plays a role in that.

I’d love to hear how you are advocating for your program. I just finished my first year at my new school and feel that this is an area I want to work on as I grow as a counselor and grow in my position. I hope to implement some of the ideas above. I really like the idea of doing a parent and/or staff newsletter. I am thinking about trying to send one out once a semester this year and then hopefully grow into once a quarter. What are your goals?

Thanks for stopping by!

 

The Spirited School Counselor

Blog about all things school counseling and education


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End of Year Needs Assessment

TeachersAppreciationWeek

This year I was new to what felt like everything… new school, new grade levels (switched from middle to elementary), new area, and a very different population in terms of needs and background.

My first instinct was to settle in for a little while and build relationships with some staff members before jumping into data. I know some may disagree with this approach but I felt like I needed to earn at least some of the staffs trust and get some buy in before sending out a needs assessment.

This school year I sent out 3 needs assessments – 1 towards the beginning of the year (about 9 weeks into the school year), 1 following winter break, and 1 at the end of the year.

My initial one had a broad focus to give me an idea about what the staff felt was needed in the school. My mid-year assessment stemmed from learning that there was a high need for a social-emotional focus. My end of year assessment asked for feedback from staff, provided information for my annual goal, and gave me a great amount of direction for next school year.

I was a little nervous about getting feedback from the staff but overall it was really positive. This year I made it anonymous but I think in the future I will ask for names. This was actaully a suggestion from my admin. I sent out the needs assessment and a reminder email but I still didn’t get full staff participation. I am assumming this is due to end of year testing and busyness in general. If I ask for names I will be able to send out a reminder email to those staff members who didn’t complete the form. It will also allow for staff members to know whether or not they actually completed the form since google allows you to limit 1 response per email.

You can see a copy of my end of year needs assessment below:

As I built this needs assessment I looked at several school counseling needs assessments I found online. I borrowed a lot of The Helpful Counselor’s categories and format. I asked teachers to check off the 5 most important topics instead of using a likert scale. I used the 1-5 scale in my first 2 assessments but found that many topics came up as a high need. I decided to use check boxes so I would get a better idea for the most important needs of our school. Exploring School Counseling blog also has a few needs assessment examples for students, families, and staff.

As I was working on this blog post I found another format that really emphasizes the ASCA model within the needs assessment. I may consider using Alachua County Public School’s format in the future.

Not sure how to create a google form? Head over to Educational Technology for a step-by-step guide to build your first google survey.

With that said, I really like using google forms as a base for my needs assessment. Not only is it user-friendly, but it also analyzes the data for me!

I’d love to hear how you create your needs assessments and what works for you.

Thanks for stopping by!

THOUGHTS